The present invention relates generally to the mounting of operational units, such as weapons units, radar units and the like, upon warships, and more particularly to an installation system which involves remote prefabrication of the weapons unit into a modular sub-assembly having standardized mounting parts mating with standardized parts on the warship. By virtue of the structure of the invention, interchangeability of the modularized operational unit sub-assemblies enables removal of one operational sub-assembly from a mounting location in a ship and replacement thereof by another different operational unit which has been prefabricated into a similar sub-assembly having standardized mounting parts mating with the mounting parts on the warship. The invention specifically relates to the particular structure of the mounting arrangement and to a method for interchangeably mounting the weapons units upon the warship.
It should be understood that, in the practice of the present invention, different types of operational units may be involved and the invention is not necessarily limited to warships or to weapons units. Radar installations, fire control equipment and even radio facilities may comprise the operational unit which is prefabricated into the modular sub-assembly. Thus, the term "operational unit" as used herein is intended to refer without limitation to a variety of devices and the invention may be appropriately applied in various types of seagoing vessels including warships.
In the installation of the type of device to which the present invention relates, it has heretofore been necessary to perform extensive preparatory operations in order to adapt the installation site to receive the individual parts to be mounted. Since such installations have generally been performed by utilizing techniques whereby individual parts are separately mounted in place upon a ship, the ship's structure must be prepared to receive the parts so that they may be assembled into structural groups to enable their proper operation. Thus, it is only after performance of the necessary preparatory operations on the ship that the individual parts of the operational device can be consecutively installed in a step-by-step procedure which must be performed in dependence upon the facilities of construction available at the shipyard site.
Significant delay in the shipyard construction of such devices occurs, however, because of the consecutive nature of the installation whereby individual components must be separately installed. Thus, prior art methods of installation are generally accompanied by the disadvantage that extensive time is necessary for their performance.
Furthermore, other difficulties may be encountered. Before the individual components may be delivered to the shipyard for installation, they must be completely finished in production and they must be subjected to tests at a shore facility. Thereafter, disassembly of the assembled parts must be performed and the individual parts must then be packed, shipped, and delivered to the installation site at the shipyard. Furthermore, if required, they must also be stored and then, according to the progress involved in the construction of the ship, they must be again assembled on board the ship and again subjected to functional testing.
As a result, a great amount of duplication in the procedures involved will occur with techniques such as those discussed above. This will cause the incurrence of appreciable costs which will be difficult to determine with accuracy and will involve significant expenditure of time thereby decreasing shipyard efficiency and productiveness.
Accordingly, the present invention is aimed toward simplifying the procedures which are involved in the mounting of operational units upon seagoing vessels. The invention is intended to improve the efficiency of the construction procedures which are utilized while reducing costs as well as the time required for construction. In addition, the invention imparts greater versatility to the operational units which are to be mounted shipborad in that, because of the prefabrication techniques involved, particular operational units may be interchangeably mounted at different desired locations on the ship without necessitating extensive restructuring procedures.